In medical records archival data storage, it is frequently necessary to store pictures such as digital X-ray pictures, CAT-scan pictures, digital microscope photographs, NMR and ultrasonic scan pictures, and other diagnostic images. These pictures originate as digital data. If digital data is not recorded in anticipation of future image processing, it would be lost forever. Frequently the data is converted to an enhanced eye readable picture representing only one form of the data.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,236,332, Domo discloses a wallet-size medical record card to be carried by the individual containing a microfilm portion having some data visible to the eye and other data visible by magnification. The directly visible data is code characters pertaining to emergency medical conditions of the patient and magnifiable data portions detail the medical history. Such cards are not intended for achival storage and cannot be used for that purpose. Cards cannot contain X-ray pictures, CAT-scan pictures and the like without loss of vital image resolution.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,110,020, Johnson et al. add bar codes along the edge of microfilm having image areas. These codes are used by the film reader to locate the desired frame. Bar codes are rather limited in the type and amount of information they can represent, so their use with detailed medical information is undesirable.
An object of the invention is to provide recording of digital image signals from a medical scanner, such as a CAT-scanner, NMR scanner, ultrasonic scanner, or digital X-ray scanner in a useful format.